Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) registered their third win in the UAE leg of IPL 2021. They chased down 128 against Delhi Capitals with three wickets and 10 balls to spare to climb up to the third spot in the points table.
They lost Venkatesh Iyer and Rahul Tripathi early, to Lalit Yadav and Avesh Khan respectively, but still reached 44/2 in the Powerplay. Kagiso Rabada and R. Ashwin then removed Shubman Gill and Eoin Morgan respectively to push KKR back further. They were reduced to 67/4 in the 12th over when Nitish Rana (36* in 27 balls) started to unleash himself. He was joined by Sunil Narine (21 in 10) ensured they did not miss Andre Russell, who was not playing this game due to an injury.
Avesh Khan (3-13) struck thrice in the latter half, but Rana eventually saw Kolkata through to a vital triumph, once again raising hopes of making it to the Playoffs.
Put into bat, Delhi were earlier restricted to 127/9, thanks to an all-round bowling effort by the Knight Riders. After Shikhar Dhawan and Steven Smith put together a 35-run opening stand, KKR picked up two quick wickets to peg them back. Lockie Ferguson dismissed Dhawan, while Narine got Shreyas Iyer. Ferguson also got the well-set Smith for 39.
Venkatesh Iyer then picked up his maiden IPL wicket and followed it with another. Rishabh Pant's 36-ball 39 was the only other significant contribution as a flurry of wickets in the final five overs prevented Delhi from breaching the 130-run mark.
Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 127/9 in 20 overs (Smith 39, Pant 39; Ferguson 2-10) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 130/7 in 18.2 overs (Rana 36*; Avesh 3-13) by 3 wickets with 10 balls to spare. Player of the match: Sunil Narine